Canon City Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic

Fremont County veteran Chris Nelson recalls Operation Swordfish

Man served in Navy during a time of nuclear test explosions

Courtesy Photo A personnel helicopter makes a drop to the fantail of the USS Richard B. Anderson while sailors on the deck remove the visitor from the drop sling. (Chris Nelson /)

Chris Nelson sitting at his fold-out desk in his living quarters aboard the USS Richard B. Anderson. (Courtesy Photo)

Editor's Note: America's Heroes is a bi-monthly series aimed at honoring the brave men and women who have served their country and sharing their military experience from their points of view.

When the Soviet Union resumed nuclear testing after a moratorium in 1961, the United States the next year authorized Operation Dominic, a series of 31 nuclear test explosions.

Chris Nelson was part of one of those tests called Operation Swordfish.

Nelson, 78, grew up in Corrigan, Texas, and after high school was accepted into the Naval ROTC program at the University of Texas. He graduated in 1960 with a bachelor's degree and a commission in the U.S. Navy.

He spent more than four years in active duty and more than two years in the Reserves. He was a supply officer for two years on the USS Richard B. Anderson.

The destroyer was in the shipyard under rehabilitation when Nelson first went on board. They were adding a helicopter flight deck to the ship, as well as a Nuclear Anti-Submarine Rocket launch. The ship was remodeled and designed to test the ASROC missile, a highly secret live-firing test, which occupied most of Nelson's time those two years.

"We went to sea for weeks and weeks at a time, but we didn't make any foreign ports," he said.

In 1962, they participated in Operation Swordfish. The missile was launched into the air, guided toward the area where enemy submarines would have been believed to be located and then turned and aimed into the water at a pre-determined depth and explode.

"That was really the most memorable thing," Nelson said. "We had to keep our heads and faces covered until they announced it was safe to look up. By the time I looked up, there was just a big mushroom of water coming up, about three miles off of our bow."

Chris Nelson while serving in the U.S. Navy. (Chris Nelson/ Courtesy Photo)

Nelson said they felt the actual explosion, but it was not as dramatic as they expected it would be.

"It was not long after that the ASROC missile was declared obsolete already," he said. "It was never used and never deployed."

The nuclear test followed several weeks of shock tests, training and preparation. A personnel helicopter made drops to the fantail of the ship, while sailors on the deck removed visitors from the drop sling.

"We had scientists coming and going, all day, every day," Nelson said. "A lot of the scientists couldn't stay on the ship because they got too seasick — they had to bring them in from day to day."

He later was assigned to shore duty at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, where he ran supply parts divisions and warehouses, and for one year managed the general mess at the air station that fed more than 5,000 rations a day.

"Needless to say, shore duty in peace time can be a little boring, and it was," he said. "Sea duty is never boring."

He enjoyed being out at sea, but he said it wasn't an ideal situation for a family. He married his wife, Charlotte, in 1962.

Nelson holds in high regard the Navy's senior and chief petty officers.

"They are the rocks," he said. "You can't survive without them."

He held the rank of lieutenant when he went inactive duty.

"I've always kind of wished I could have stayed in the Reserves, but the job I had in civilian life just ate me up," he said. "I didn't have time for anything else."

After the Navy, he worked in labor relations for a major corporation, worked as a real estate broker and finally worked for the Forest Service. He and his wife retired and moved to Cañon City in 2003.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.